In recent years the use of light-weight, disposable, thin-walled plastic bags of polyethylene and other materials has become widespread. Although these containers are highly impervious to most materials, cheap and relatively durable, the limp non-rigid nature of the container makes filling an unsupported container rather tedious. The container opening and container side walls tend to collapse as material is inserted into the container unless the container is supported in some manner.
The present invention relates in general to devices for supporting these limp disposable containers in a generally open position to receive material and for preventing the container from collapsing as the material is inserted therein.
Heretofore it has been common for a person using these limp containers, such as trash bags, to hold a portion of the container in one hand while, at the same time, using the other hand to insert material into the container. Another approach has been to place the limp container inside a larger container so that both hands may be used to insert the material into the container.
These prior approaches have been disadvantageous in that the hand-held approach was inefficient and slow while the use of a larger outer container presented handling problems and the problem of storage of the large external container when not in use. Additionally, it has been found to be extremely difficult to remove a filled container, such as a trash bag, from within a closed larger container, such as a trash can, due to the "vacuum effect" produced by the generally intimate contact between the trash bag and the trash can.